Escape
by vividelectra
Summary: Just a fun a little one-shot! Wes lets something slip about Maggie when he's giving Aria a ride home, and it becomes his responsibility to console her.


**A/N: Okay, so Ezria is absolutely perfect. But, c'mon, Greg Sulkin & Lucy Hale had great chemistry! This is just a fun little one shot. Let me know if the ending isn't conclusive enough, or if you want another scene or something. This picks up from where Wesley picks Aria up & just said whatever he said about Maggie...I couldn't remember any of the details but I think it turned out fine nonetheless! **

"So are you going to give me directions or not?" Wes asked, giving Aria a sidelong glance.

Aria was trying her best not to cry, but she was certain that if she had to talk, it would be her breaking point.

"Fine; I'll just drop you off at Ezra's,"

"No!" Aria protested, her reply coming a little bit too quickly.

Wes suppressed a knowing grin. "Where to then?"

Aria sniffed loudly, letting a few stray tears run down her cheeks. It was like she was aching too much for her to actually cry. She just couldn't understand why after all the time that she and Ezra had been together, all of the things she'd told him; he would still hide this whole other life from her. It wasn't even like getting a girl pregnant was a small detail that you could forget to tell your girlfriend about.

"I can't believe you told me that," Aria said quietly.

"Would you rather not have known about Maggie at all?"

"I'm sure he was going to tell me about her eventually." Aria didn't sound convinced herself, so it was no surprise that Wes didn't believe her, either.

"How long have you two been together? Is two years not enough time? Or would he have waited for a better time, like once you were married and you got pregnant? 'Oh, by the way, honey, this reminds me; I got someone else pregnant when I was in high school. But don't worry, I was young and stupid, and my mom bribed her, so that's why I never told you.'"

"You're an ass. You know that, right?"

"I'm well aware," Wes sounded more amused than defensive.

"I'd ask you to take me home, but I hate the thought of being alone right now."

"Won't your family be home?"

"Please," Aria snorted. "That's even worse,"

"So, you're saying I should drop you off at a bar?"

Aria finally broke down, without any warning. She tried to keep her sobs silent, but decided that it wasn't worth it. Wes would know she was crying whether she tried to keep it quiet or not. As her crying became heart-wrenching, Wes pulled the car over. He turned to her, a concerned look on his face.

Wordlessly, he reached across the gearbox, pulling her into a close hug. In any other situation, she would've felt uncomfortable or awkward, but she felt like she was in such a state of despair, and being hugged by her boyfriend's brother seemed like such a trivial thing to be worried about. Besides, she needed it. She needed someone to hug her and comfort her and stroke her hair and tell her that things would be okay.

She should've expected that Wes couldn't do things exactly like other people. He did stroke her hair, but he didn't give her any reassurances. "I'm sorry that I was the one who told you, but for the record, you deserve to know. It's his fault for not talking to you about it earlier." For a while, this made her cry harder, but her tears ended up stopping sooner than she would've expected.

When she finally peeled herself off Wes' chest, she felt her cheeks turning a few shades pinker. Instead of making a flippant comment to her about it, Wes responded with a much more tender gesture. He gently wiped her cheek with his thumb and offered her an empathetic smile.

"You'll be fine,"

Aria couldn't tear her eyes away from his. Something about the way he was looking at her . . .

And before she knew what she was doing, she kissed him. And he kissed her back. And she felt much lighter than she had since Wes had dropped the whole Maggie-bomb on her.

If it had been anyone else, they probably would've stopped kissing their brother's girlfriend. But Aria had a feeling that Wes's moral instincts weren't exactly honourable. In that moment, despite her nagging conscience reminding her of Ezra, she didn't care. She was abandoning her real life for just a few minutes – actually, no, she was _escaping_. For the longest time, Ezra had been her escape. But ever since she had found out that there were a lot of things she didn't know about him, it began feeling an awful lot like the rest of her life – secretive and complicated and confusing. And, also much like the rest of her life, it began suffocating her.

Somehow, doing something a little bit reckless managed to relieve her of that suffocation. Of course, she realized that it wouldn't last long. But why did that have to matter? If anything, it was all the more reason to do it. If kissing Wes gave her a strange sort of peace of mind or whatever, then why stop?

Wes wasted no time before slipping his tongue into her mouth. He was a really good kisser – Aria tried her best not to start comparing his 'technique' to Ezra's. His hands were rubbing up and down her sides, and she was playing with the hair at the nape of his neck, twirling it around her finger.

An oncoming car with blinding headlights forced them apart by making them aware of their surroundings. That's what it did for Aria, at least. She felt like they totally had the deer-caught-in-the-headlights thing going on, but when she finally had the courage to look at Wes, it was obvious that he didn't feel the same way.

Instead of shrinking in shame, he gave her a wicked grin, and dove onto the backseat with a daring leap. Aria's conscience screamed at her to stop, to consider what she was doing and what the fallout would be. After having grown used to it, what with all of the sneaking around and lying she and Ezra had to do, Aria found it easy to ignore her instincts.

Aria twisted in her seat and leaned forward, letting Wes pull her into the backseat. He immediately kissed her again. He started playing with the hem of her dress, his hands brush against her thighs as she did so. Aria could feel the delicious shiver that shot its way through her body. She quickly broke their kiss for just long enough to pull his shirt off. She barely had a second to admire his 'abdominal muscles' before Wes was tugging her dress over her head. His mouth was right back on hers, and he slowly lowered her so that she was lying on top of him.

Aria wasn't sure what their make-out session would amount to, but it seemed like the theme of the evening was he refusal to care or be reasonable. And she loved it. Being a writer, she observed, and thought things through – Ezra was her first exception to this. Until this night, he had also been her only.

The Fitzgerald boys must have something special that made Aria want to break all of her rules. If it wasn't just a coincidence that she was attracted to two guys from the same gene pool, it was definitely inherited from their father - because their mother obviously did _not_ possess that type of charm.

After a few more minutes of what she would definitely consider to be _passionate_ kissing, Wes flipped her over, and start leaving a trail of kisses to her ear, and then down her neck. The hand that he wasn't supporting himself with slowly trailed up her leg, across her stomach, and onto her chest, where he rubbed her one breast through her bra.

Aria was definitely surprised with what came next. Instead of trying to take things further, Wes pulled back, and in a swift movement, grabbed his shirt and planted himself back in the driver's seat. Aria was confused as she sat up and slowly put her dress back on. What just happened? Did she do something wrong? Did he start feeling guilty?

Once she was back in the passenger's seat, a deep blush on her cheeks, Wes finally turned to her and offered his explanation.

"That's as far as I go, Aria."

Later that night, as Aria lay in bed, recounting the details of the night's events, she was still a little confused. Why would he go that far and then pull back? It didn't make sense to her. Admittedly, she would've hated herself if she had actually had sex with him, but still . . . it would've been nice to know that she had the option. Of course, as he dropped her off at home, Wes had mentioned that he had already taken enough advantage of her vulnerable state. Aria had spouted off about how that was such a clichéd thing to say, and his reply was surprisingly genuine.

"_Maybe so, but it doesn't make it any less true. I wanted to kiss you, so I did. I knew it was wrong, but I'm not exactly known for worrying about consequences. Do you know what a bad person it would've made me if I had taken full advantage of you? It would've hurt a lot of people."_

"_So what, this way it only stays between the two of us? No need to tell Ezra?"_

"_It's your choice." Wes said with a shrug. "I can handle it if he cuts me off."_

"_Are you saying that I can't?"_

"_You love him. Of course it would be hard for you."_

"_That's right. I love him. In fact, I love him so much, that I totally made out with his half-naked brother in the back of his car." Aria sarcasm produced a smile from Wes that was becoming a familiar site for her._

"_Exactly. That's how it's going to sound to him. The way I see it, we enjoyed what we did in the back of said car, so we can't regret it. And if we can't regret it, then there's no point in trying to apologize or explain ourselves."_

_Aria sighed, and it was a somewhat wistful sound. "You make it sound so simple. Like we can all just do what we want, and we don't even have to feel guilty about keeping the secret."_

"_It's not a secret. And it's not baggage, or something to be ashamed about. It's a good memory, that's all. Do you tell Ezra about all of your memories?"_

"_It's not the same thing."_

"_To me it is. And that's why I'm so calm about it. It's about perspective."_

"_So the reason you won't tell Ezra is because he might not share your 'perspective?'" Aria hoped she didn't sound too patronizing. _

_Instead of giving her a direct reply, Wes grinned like he had some big secret that he was about to share with her. "I have no doubt that you and my brother will work through this and live happily ever after."_


End file.
